CVE-2026-23161
Published: February 14, 2026· Updated: Feb 18, 2026
Official Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mm/shmem, swap: fix race of truncate and swap entry split
The helper for shmem swap freeing is not handling the order of swap
entries correctly. It uses xa_cmpxchg_irq to erase the swap entry, but it
gets the entry order before that using xa_get_order without lock
protection, and it may get an outdated order value if the entry is split
or changed in other ways after the xa_get_order and before the
xa_cmpxchg_irq.
And besides, the order could grow and be larger than expected, and cause
truncation to erase data beyond the end border. For example, if the
target entry and following entries are swapped in or freed, then a large
folio was added in place and swapped out, using the same entry, the
xa_cmpxchg_irq will still succeed, it's very unlikely to happen though.
To fix that, open code the Xarray cmpxchg and put the order retrieval and
value checking in the same critical section. Also, ensure the order won't
exceed the end border, skip it if the entry goes across the border.
Skipping large swap entries crosses the end border is safe here. Shmem
truncate iterates the range twice, in the first iteration,
find_lock_entries already filtered such entries, and shmem will swapin the
entries that cross the end border and partially truncate the folio (split
the folio or at least zero part of it). So in the second loop here, if we
see a swap entry that crosses the end order, it must at least have its
content erased already.
I observed random swapoff hangs and kernel panics when stress testing
ZSWAP with shmem. After applying this patch, all problems are gone.
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-23161 requires local access, meaning attackers must already have a foothold on the target system.
Exploitation requires some privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.
Affected Vendors & Products
Exploit & PoC Resources
All References (3)
Quick Facts
Recommended Actions
- →Apply vendor patches immediately
- →Monitor CVE-2026-23161 in threat intel feeds
- →Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts